Well, for some inexplicable reason, I am compelled to post again on this baffling subject. The scanned copies of these pages are so nice that I feel they should be shared for historical purposes, but the art is again generally so marginal that I find it difficult to post more than a few pages per story. The double splash is of course q thing of wonder having been laid out, drawn and inked predominantly by Kirby.

Here we have a tour de force of a circular composition, with the eye moving around the canvas aided by the ring of tormented heads in mid page. What sort of genius is this that could conjure these images? Feast your eyes on the wonderful inking in characters faces, hands and folds of clothing. The fiddler’s wide stance alone is an amazing feat of drawing. This is 100% vintage Kirby at his best.

Sad to see then the condescension in the pages that follow. Page four below is an OK layout by Kirby, probably finished by Al Avison and Syd Shores. The Captain America poses are fairly tight Kirby renderings. Cap’s three-quarter back pose in panel five is exceptionally nice. Avison probably finishes the drawings, and Shores inking hand can be seen in the butler’s face in panel four.

Shores’ work can also be seen in the “Hay” style cross-hatched inking in panel six on page twelve below. This page displays the very roughest of Kirby layouts, with only a bravura dynamic pose in panel four of the fiddler striking Bucky with his pistol as a standout pose. Not much to get excited about here.

All told, this story has a bare minimum of Jack Kirby art, a sad state of affairs that will continue for the next issue or so. I will cover Captain America #8 in my next entry, but I will spend very little time on this particular issue.